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Category: pastoral theology

Published on Leave a comment on Vicarious hope

Having thought about the vicarious worship of Jesus, I've been reflecting on examples of vicarious hope in our marriage.

There have been a few times in our marriage where one of us has turned to the other and said something like this:

-- I really can't imagine a way forward here.

-- Oh but there is.

-- I don't see it.

-- I do.  I promise I do.

-- ...Ok.

The feeling of hope is not there.  But it's enough to rest in the hope of another.

Sometimes Christian hope is like this.  "Jesus, I don't see a bright future.  But I know that you do.  And that's enough for me right now."

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Published on Leave a comment on When I don't desire the LORD… the King does

Following on from my last post - Psalms are about Christ.   They tell of the interaction between the LORD, the King through Whom He rules, the righteous who hide in Him and the wicked who rebel. 

These interactions are pictured from many angles.  But one key perspective is for the King Himself to speak.  This most often happens in the Psalms 'Of David'.

Of course all the kings reigned under the knowledge that they were simply throne-warmers for the King to Whom universal tribute was due. (Gen 49:10)  But David was the most idealized of these kings.  The Messiah is often spoken of simply as David.  (e.g. Ezekiel 34:23f; 37:25).  And David himself is aware of his idealized role.  Just before his death he said: "The Spirit of the LORD spoke through me; His word was on my tongue." (2 Sam 23:2)  He didn't speak better than he knew, but he certainly spoke better than he lived. In the Psalms the king most often spoke as The King.  The anointed one spoke most often as The Anointed One. 

Peter confirms this for us in Acts 2.  Even when David spoke in the first person he was speaking the words of Christ (see Acts 2:25).  Quoting Psalm 16, Peter makes it clear that David was not describing his own experience. (Paul underlines this in Acts 13:36-37).  Rather, David "was a prophet and knew that God had promised him on oath that he would place one of his descendants on his throne. Seeing what was ahead, he spoke of the resurrection of the Christ" (Acts 2:30-31).

Does this mean that such Psalms have no application to David?  No of course they do - but such application runs from Christ to David rather than David to Christ.  This is the nature of the whole of David's life -  from shepherd boy to rejected ruler, to reigning king to his death, he is a shadow of the Coming King.

This is my understanding anyway.  Whether you take the Psalms from David to Christ or Christ to David, I hope we can all agree that the emotions and experiences of 'The King' are ultimately taken up and owned by Christ.

All of this is just a precursor to what I really want to discuss...  What do we do with the Psalmist's intense desire for the LORD?

On one level that's simple - copy it.  Be challenged by it.  Be inspired by it.  Seek it for yourself.

Well, yes, ok.  But here's the question - what do I do when I don't earnestly desire the LORD?  Because maybe once or twice in your life your white hot devotion to God has dipped below the zeal of the Psalmist.  What do you do then?

Here's the first level of my response:  When I don't desire God, first I need to see that Christ does.  And He does so for me.

What do I mean? 

Well take a favourite Psalm of mine: Psalm 63

Here the Psalmist says:

 1 O God, you are my God,
       earnestly I seek you;
       my soul thirsts for you,
       my body longs for you,
       in a dry and weary land
       where there is no water.

 2 I have seen you in the sanctuary
       and beheld your power and your glory.

 3 Because your love is better than life,
       my lips will glorify you.

 4 I will praise you as long as I live,
       and in your name I will lift up my hands. 

Now be honest, doesn't some part of you go "Really?  Have I really beheld His power and glory?  Really?  Have I in the past and will I in the future praise Him so wholeheartedly?  Really?  As long as I live?  Am I perjuring myself here??"

But friend, read on to the final verse...

 11 But the king will rejoice in God

These are the words of the king - the king on whose lips are the words of The King.  And He has beheld the power and glory of the LORD in the ultimate sanctuary.  He is the ultimate, white-hot Worshipper of God.  These words are not a guide to human worship so much as a window onto divine worship. 

So what should be our response?

Sit back and be awed by The King's desire for the LORD.  You don't yet feel such intense passion.  Well alright.  In the deepest sense you never can match His devotion.  But let the King's worship be enough for you.  Don't despise his devotion like Michal (2 Sam 6:16).  Simply allow your King to offer what you cannot summon up yourself.  Know that He offers in your place a worship you could never initiate.  And if the Praise-Worthy does not elicit your praise, let the Praise-Giver show the way.  In ourselves we could never work up the right response.  In Christ we see what reckless and joyful abandon to God looks like. 

He is like the first Dancer onto the floor, moved by the Music, laughing and clapping and dancing as we never could.  The more you watch Him dance, the more your foot starts to tap, then you start clapping.  Pretty soon you'll link arms and join in.  The Music itself should get you on the dance floor.  But in fact the Music never does - not really.  It's the Dancer who inspires, who links arms and who leads.

Read Psalm 63 again.  And add your own Amen.  For now that is enough.  If these words were simply the prayer diary of an ancient near eastern ruler, your Amen would mean nothing.  If these were just passionate words from an inspired and inspiring devotee they could only judge your apathy.  But they're not.  This is the worship of The King.  Your King.   This is Christ your Substitute, your Priest, your Vicarious Worshipper.  He bears your name on His heart as He comes before the LORD in joyful abandon.  For now just allow Him to offer the praise you cannot find in yourself.  In time you'll join the dance.

 

For more on Christ offering worship on our behalf, here's a half hour talk I gave recently.

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Published on Leave a comment on When I don’t desire the LORD… the King does

Following on from my last post - Psalms are about Christ.   They tell of the interaction between the LORD, the King through Whom He rules, the righteous who hide in Him and the wicked who rebel. 

These interactions are pictured from many angles.  But one key perspective is for the King Himself to speak.  This most often happens in the Psalms 'Of David'.

Of course all the kings reigned under the knowledge that they were simply throne-warmers for the King to Whom universal tribute was due. (Gen 49:10)  But David was the most idealized of these kings.  The Messiah is often spoken of simply as David.  (e.g. Ezekiel 34:23f; 37:25).  And David himself is aware of his idealized role.  Just before his death he said: "The Spirit of the LORD spoke through me; His word was on my tongue." (2 Sam 23:2)  He didn't speak better than he knew, but he certainly spoke better than he lived. In the Psalms the king most often spoke as The King.  The anointed one spoke most often as The Anointed One. 

Peter confirms this for us in Acts 2.  Even when David spoke in the first person he was speaking the words of Christ (see Acts 2:25).  Quoting Psalm 16, Peter makes it clear that David was not describing his own experience. (Paul underlines this in Acts 13:36-37).  Rather, David "was a prophet and knew that God had promised him on oath that he would place one of his descendants on his throne. Seeing what was ahead, he spoke of the resurrection of the Christ" (Acts 2:30-31).

Does this mean that such Psalms have no application to David?  No of course they do - but such application runs from Christ to David rather than David to Christ.  This is the nature of the whole of David's life -  from shepherd boy to rejected ruler, to reigning king to his death, he is a shadow of the Coming King.

This is my understanding anyway.  Whether you take the Psalms from David to Christ or Christ to David, I hope we can all agree that the emotions and experiences of 'The King' are ultimately taken up and owned by Christ.

All of this is just a precursor to what I really want to discuss...  What do we do with the Psalmist's intense desire for the LORD?

On one level that's simple - copy it.  Be challenged by it.  Be inspired by it.  Seek it for yourself.

Well, yes, ok.  But here's the question - what do I do when I don't earnestly desire the LORD?  Because maybe once or twice in your life your white hot devotion to God has dipped below the zeal of the Psalmist.  What do you do then?

Here's the first level of my response:  When I don't desire God, first I need to see that Christ does.  And He does so for me.

What do I mean? 

Well take a favourite Psalm of mine: Psalm 63

Here the Psalmist says:

 1 O God, you are my God,
       earnestly I seek you;
       my soul thirsts for you,
       my body longs for you,
       in a dry and weary land
       where there is no water.

 2 I have seen you in the sanctuary
       and beheld your power and your glory.

 3 Because your love is better than life,
       my lips will glorify you.

 4 I will praise you as long as I live,
       and in your name I will lift up my hands. 

Now be honest, doesn't some part of you go "Really?  Have I really beheld His power and glory?  Really?  Have I in the past and will I in the future praise Him so wholeheartedly?  Really?  As long as I live?  Am I perjuring myself here??"

But friend, read on to the final verse...

 11 But the king will rejoice in God

These are the words of the king - the king on whose lips are the words of The King.  And He has beheld the power and glory of the LORD in the ultimate sanctuary.  He is the ultimate, white-hot Worshipper of God.  These words are not a guide to human worship so much as a window onto divine worship. 

So what should be our response?

Sit back and be awed by The King's desire for the LORD.  You don't yet feel such intense passion.  Well alright.  In the deepest sense you never can match His devotion.  But let the King's worship be enough for you.  Don't despise his devotion like Michal (2 Sam 6:16).  Simply allow your King to offer what you cannot summon up yourself.  Know that He offers in your place a worship you could never initiate.  And if the Praise-Worthy does not elicit your praise, let the Praise-Giver show the way.  In ourselves we could never work up the right response.  In Christ we see what reckless and joyful abandon to God looks like. 

He is like the first Dancer onto the floor, moved by the Music, laughing and clapping and dancing as we never could.  The more you watch Him dance, the more your foot starts to tap, then you start clapping.  Pretty soon you'll link arms and join in.  The Music itself should get you on the dance floor.  But in fact the Music never does - not really.  It's the Dancer who inspires, who links arms and who leads.

Read Psalm 63 again.  And add your own Amen.  For now that is enough.  If these words were simply the prayer diary of an ancient near eastern ruler, your Amen would mean nothing.  If these were just passionate words from an inspired and inspiring devotee they could only judge your apathy.  But they're not.  This is the worship of The King.  Your King.   This is Christ your Substitute, your Priest, your Vicarious Worshipper.  He bears your name on His heart as He comes before the LORD in joyful abandon.  For now just allow Him to offer the praise you cannot find in yourself.  In time you'll join the dance.

 

For more on Christ offering worship on our behalf, here's a half hour talk I gave recently.

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Published on Leave a comment on Life Together founded on our alien righteousness

Lest you think I've taken a disastrous turn towards the self, here's Bonhoeffer on the only basis for Christian community - the alien righteousness of Christ.  There is here a whole theology of salvation, of church, of pastoral care and of preaching:

The death and the life of the Christian is not determined by his own resources; rather he finds both only in the Word that comes to him from the outside, in God's Word to him.  The Reformers expressed it this way: Our righteousness is an 'alien righteousness' a righteousness that comes outside of us (extra nos).  They were saying that the Christian is dependent on the Word of God spoken to him.  He is pointed outward, to the Word that comes to him.  The Christian lives wholly by the truth of God's Word in Jesus Christ.  If someone asks him, Where is your salvation, your righteousness? he can never point to himself.  He points to the Word of God in Jesus Christ, which assures him salvation and righteousness.  He is as alert as possible to this Word.  Because he daily hungers and thirsts for righteousness, he daily desires the redeeming Word.  And it can come only from the outside.  In himself he is destitute and dead.  Help must come from the outside, and it has come and comes daily and anew in the Word of Jesus Christ, bringing redemption, righteousness, innocence and blessedness.

But God has put this Word in the mouth of men in order that it may be communicated to other men. When one person is struck by the Word, he speaks it to others. God has willed that we should seek and find His living Word in the witness of a brother, in the mouth of man. Therefore, the Christian needs another Christian who speaks God’s Word to him. He needs him again and again when he becomes uncertain and discouraged, for by himself he cannot help himself without belying the truth. He needs his brother man as a bearer and proclaimer of the divine word of salvation. He needs his brother solely because of Jesus Christ. The Christ in his own heart is weaker than the Christ in the word of his brother, his own heart is uncertain, his brother’s is sure

And that also clarifies the goal of all Christian community: they meet one another as bringers of the message of salvation.  As such, God permits them to meet together and gives them community.  Their fellowship is founded solely upon Jesus Christ and this 'alien righteousness'.  All we can say therefore is: the community of Christians springs solely from the biblical and Reformation message of the justification of man through grace alone; this alone is the basis of the longing of Christians for one another.  (Life Together, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, SCM Press, 1954, p11-12)

 

Published on Leave a comment on Mike Reeves interviews Ron Frost

Ron Frost fans (this blog has quite a few), meet Mike Reeves. 

Mike Reeves fans (this blog has many), meet Ron Frost.

Here two of my favourite living theologians discuss one of my favourite dead ones - Richard Sibbes. 

sibbes

Joy!!

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6

Published on 6 Comments on Redeemed Features

Having been at a week long Larry Crabb conference (see previous notes here, here, here and here), these are some of my reflections.  This isn't what Larry said.  These are all things his teaching has prompted me to think.  Many of them are quite new to me (even though they should have been obvious!):

I have no redeeming features. I have a Redeemer.  But through my Redeemer I have some redeemed features.  They are not my hope.  But they are there.  Not at all perfectly but really and noticably.

It's ok to notice these features!  It's more than ok for others to notice these features - they haven't distracted attention from the real me, clothed in Christ, hidden in God.  Paul (who was quite keen on the whole 'clothed in Christ', 'hidden in God' language was also able to identify in others their real, distinct, noticable praise-worthy features!)

My identity is in Christ.  But I do not, for that reason, dissolve into Him.  Just as His one-ness with the Father does not dissolve away the concrete particularity of His Person, so my one-ness with Jesus does not take away from my own particular personhood.

To be lost in Christ is not like a drop lost in an ocean but more like a musician lost in her music or a lover lost in his beloved.  ie  I am truly found in that lostness.  I am the musician and lover set free in their element to be their true selves.  In this all-embracing context I am able to discover a genuine particularity that I could never find apart from it.

I am truly and particularly myself when I am entirely His.  Now that I am entirely His I can truly find myself.  I can know myself only when I know myself in Him.  But once I know myself in Him, then I can truly know myself.

To fail to find and know myself is not a testament to my hiddenness in Christ.  Quite the opposite. The person without a genuine sense of self testifies to the world that Christ has not found them, bought them, and named them.  Something is wrong with our knowledge of Christ if genuine knowledge of self does not ensue (cf Institutes 1.1.1)

It is not just that I am in Christ.  Christ is in me.  And according to Scripture, this reality can be known to some extent by sight and not merely by faith.   (e.g. 2 Cor 13:5).  You can dig down and not merely descend through infinite sewage.  You can actually hit Rock!

There is such a thing as a new heart!

The look within will not just reveal wickedness (though it'll be a lot worse than I'd imagined).  Paul says he knows 'nothing good dwells in him'.  (Rom 7:18) But he immediately qualifies that - "that is, in my flesh."  He goes on to say that in his inner being he delights in God's law.  Flesh is not the only thing going on in him.  He digs deep enough to realise that he has no hope in himself. But he also digs deep enough to see what his 'inner being' is like.

We generally only look deep enough at ourselves to diagnose a problem for which Christ is unnecessary.  After a brief but uncomfortable glimpse we say: "I'm stupid, I'm fat, I'm disorganised, I'm ugly, I don't know my bible, I'm not a very good friend / son / daughter / spouse / minister / worker."  None of these verdicts get anywhere near the heart of the problem but they engender sufficiently strong feelings of self-contempt that we quickly say sorry and determine to do better next time.  After a brief self-directed pep-talk (in the name of Jesus obviously), we look away.

We rarely discover anything deeper than flesh-dynamics because we don't trust the gospel enough to be able to uncover the really ugly stuff.

We rarely discover anything deeper than flesh-dynamics because we rarely relate to others very deeply.

When someone asks me how I'm doing I could of course answer "Clothed in Christ, seated in Him at God's right hand."  At the end of the day this is the only thing that matters.  But "end of the day" answers aren't the only ones.  There's a significant danger that this answer could avert both our eyes from realities that need addressing here and now.  The 'clothed in Christ' answer should free me to be real not shield me from the truth.

I believe in the old saying "For every one look at yourself take ten looks at Christ."  But will I really take that one look?  And will I allow you to take that look too and to point out things I just can't see from where I'm sitting?

I believe Bonhoeffer's saying that we should avoid constantly taking our spiritual temperatures.  But I also know I have a contagious spiritual disease.  It's worth getting my cough checked out once in a while - cos it's going to hurt you sooner or later.

I believe in Col 3:1-4.  But will I read on to verses 5-9? You can't put to death what you don't see.  And we're very good at deceiving ourselves.

I'm a master at sinning with Scriptural back-up.  I read the bible with my own sin-tainted glasses.  I need you to say 'That's not what that verse means...'

Sin is relational.  It takes a community to call it forth, a community to see it and a community to handle it.

I'm not loving you if I don't take drastic steps to deal with my sinful patterns of relating.  I don't really believe the gospel if I a) I don't know the freedom to repent and b) can't take your criticism.

God doesn't need my good works, my neighbour does.  God doesn't need me to deal with my wicked ways of relating, you do.  This is gospel driven mortification not self-obsessed introspection.

Going into last week this was basically my view of self: an ugly mess of sins sprinkled with a few ministry gifts but - thank God! - united to an alien righteousness, Christ.

What I'm now seeing is that I have an even uglier mess of sin than I thought.  And such a mess of sin that I have no earthly hope of untangling.   But, deeper still, I have Spirit-implanted passions.  I have redeemed desires.  I have what the bible calls a new heart (e.g. Ezek 36:24ff).

Am I still capable of massive self-deception?  You bet!  Should I cast off the external word by which I am declared righteous and trust my heart?  B y no means!  But now I have a renewed sense that Glen Scrivener has a centre, a purpose, a direction, a concrete self.  If I'd just looked within to find myself I'd have been lost in a hall of mirrors.  But anchored in Christ, I've found an authentic me to be.

Which is nice.

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PHOTO OF SSD

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Published on Leave a comment on Application – the evangelical cure-all

habits

 

Like coathangers, we own a hundred bibles but have no idea how they came to be ours.  One of them is called a "Life Application Bible." 

As far as I can tell, it exists in order to footnote every biblical indicative so that a moral imperative may be added.  This is, we are assured, the cure to our spiritual malaise.  Just listen to this endorsement on the back cover:

Evangelical Christianity is suffering from an acute case of spiritual malnutrition.  The symptom is well known - defection in personal standards of living.  The cure - Vitamin A - application of God's Word.

This remedy is both refreshing and realistic, calculated to change the will.  Not merely satisfying curiosity or making us smarter sinners, the Scriptures were given to make us more like Jesus Christ.

Wha?? 

What's the understanding of the bible here?  The Spirit's testimony to the Son?  Christ's love-letter to His bride?  The deposit of faith given to the church for the sake of proclaiming Christ to the world?  No.  At base the bible is, apparently, given for individual piety.

What kind of anthropology is this?  Change the will and you'll correct the 'defection in standards of living.'  ! 

What kind of salvation is offered?  Apparently we are not to become merely 'smarter sinners' - well what then?  Do we become subtler sinners?  more self-righteous sinners?  self-satisfied sinners?  There's one option that is assuredly closed to us - that of ceasing to be sinners!  So why not a smarter sinner?

This approach to Scripture and to Christian faith is not good.  And yet, doesn't this kind of thinking throb away beneath much of what passes for evangelicalism?  Isn't the majority of 'evangelical' preaching informed by just such beliefs?  I'd say our spiritual malnutrition is not because of a lack of this kind of application.  We're spiritually anaemic precisely because we have turned the Scriptures into moralistic or therapeutic self-help.  No wonder other Christians deride us as simplistic legalists.

For a thought on what good application is, go here.

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Published on Leave a comment on How not to read the bible

A semi-imagined conversation

-- Right.  Bible reading.  Here we go - Speak Lord, your servant is listening.  Ok, Matthew 11:28.  Jesus said "Come to me all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest."  Ok, good verse.  Thank You Lord.  But now let me think.  What is this verse really saying to me...?  Hmm, well of course "rest" is very theologically loaded.  Right from the seventh day of creation we see eschatological perfection modelled in Sabbath....

-- Glen!

-- Speak Lord, your servant is listening.

-- Yes you've already said that.  And I've already spoken...

-- ... Oh indeed you have Lord and now I'm allowing your word to inform and shape my theological understanding that I might be transformed by the renewing... Well you know how the verse goes.  Anyway I find it fascinating that you say v28 right after v27 when you declare the trinitarian, christo-centric dynamic of all revel...

-- Glen! 

-- Speak Lord, your servant is listening

-- Are you?

-- Well trying to.  That's why I'm thinking hard about how the verse fits in with the context and with the rest of the biblical witness.  I'm allowing my whole theology to be shaped by these concepts...

-- These concepts?  Glen, have you actually come to me for rest today?

-- Well.  My plan is to get a properly nuanced theology of rest in place.  And once I have this understanding I imagine the experience of rest will sort of, I don't know, umm....

-- Glen?

-- Speak Lord your servant is listening

-- Maybe later...

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9

Published on 9 Comments on Comedy leftovers – Self lightly, God seriously

god-seriously-self-lightly-21

 

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Here's the audio of my talk on the subject

All this began here.

Then I had some initial thoughts on the usefulness of comedy here

There's an excellent CS Lewis quote here

Here is a very expanded early version of the talk: part one, part two, part three, part four.

Then some follow up thoughts on blasphemy here and here.

 

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Published on Leave a comment on Breaking the Alabaster Jar at Christ’s Feet

Here's a snippet from Watchman Nee, read the whole quote from Dev:

Now the breaking of the alabaster box and the anointing of the Lord filled the house with the odor, with the sweetest odor. Everyone could smell it. Whenever you meet someone who has really suffered; been limited, gone through things for the Lord, willing to be imprisoned by the Lord, just being satisfied with Him and nothing else, immediately you scent the fragrance.

There is a savor of the Lord. Something has been crushed, something has been broken, and there is a resulting odor of sweetness. The odor which filled the house that day still fills the Church; Mary's fragrance never passes away.

...We like to be always "on the go": the Lord would sometimes prefer to have us in prison. We think in terms of apostolic journeys: God dares to put His greatest ambassadors in chains. "But thanks be unto God, which always leadeth us in triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest through us the savor of his knowledge in every place" (2 Corinthians 2:14)

 

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